#roma

[mirthalia]

So I should have gotten on this sooner, but I'm walking that recommendation back. I read Bury Me Standing a long time ago when access to actual Romani-written sources were scarce (at least at my local library), and while at the time it offered more insight and humanization than anything else I'd come across, I've since learned that the book still contains a number of problematic biases and racist characterization.

As always, literature about minorities is always best when written first-hand by the minorities in question. Therefore I would instead recommend starting with this list of Romani authors from various countries and the website Kopachi by the late Canadian Romani Ronald Lee.

Some more specific books to try:

Menyhert Lakatos, The Color of Smoke

Ceija Stojka, Even Death is Afraid of Auschwitz

Katarina Taikon, The Day I Am Free/Katitzi

Valeriu Nicolae, We Are the Roma!: One Thousand Years of Discrimination

Damian Le Bas, The Stopping Places: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain

Various, The Roads of the Roma: A PEN Anthology of Gypsy Writers

To understand the Roma, you need to read their literature, a short article touching on several Roma authors

Because many Romani authors don't publish in English, and a number of Romani lines were ended in WW2 and other conflicts, historical non-Romani sources can still be useful -- just always keep in mind while reading them that they are likely to have their own biases. There are a few recommended here, as well as Ian Hancock's The Pariah Syndrome and Paul Polansky's Black Silence.

“Ame le Rroma sam ekh baro kopachi. Amare vuni si ande India thai amaro korpo si swako riga ande lumia. Amare krenzhi si amare vitsi thai ande amare vitsi si but familiyi.”

“We the Roma are a giant tree. Our roots are in India and our trunk is everywhere in the world. Our branches are our clans and each clan has many families.”

— Romani refugee claimant while waiting for his hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Toronto, 2002.

I've never heard anyone say that the term "gypsy" is offensive before. I know it used to have a negative connotation, but it seems like it hasn't for a couple of centuries. Do people still identify as gypsies? I'm not arguing, but this is news to me and I would like to understand more.

Thanks for asking with the intention of understanding better! 

On my father’s side, my family is Romani, the ethnic group historically called gypsies by outsiders. The name came from the misperception than we originated in Egypt (we’re actually from India). Other names for us include words that literally mean unclean or untouchable (in a taboo and gross way). We have always called ourselves Roma or Romani, so it’s not that we identify as gypsies, it’s that others identify us as gypsies. This name or label was forced on us.

Like Native Americans, we are not a dead culture. We have become splintered, and many Romani have been pushed into inescapable poverty thanks to institutional racism. Many of us have assimilated into the dominant culture of the places we live (my family fits here).

But the negative connotation to the word is very much alive and well. Romani girls and women are among the most targeted by sex traffickers. In 2017, Fox “News” aired a scare-mongering “report” on Gypsy immigrants threatening the very fabric of the US.

Historically speaking, the Romani have been forcibly relocated, sterilized, and subjected to genocide. To address the “gypsy problem,” in the 1800’s, Switzerland rounded up Romani males and sent them to North America. This is how one branch of my family arrived in the US. It tends to not get mentioned in history classes, but twenty-five to fifty percent of the Romani population living in Europe in 1939 died at the hands of Nazis.

Taking a word that has been used to label and other an ethnic group, and romanticizing and using it to describe a free-spirited and mischievous nature does not erase the baggage or harm that has been done. Gypsy and its derivative gyp (to steal or swindle) are vulgar and hurtful words that need to be retired and relegated to history.

⁂

Here are some sources and articles, should they be of interest:

The Problem with the Word ‘Gypsy’ (this whole site can be helpful)

The Harmful History of ‘Gypsy’ – discusses the modern myths and the current state

Romani Genocide – Romani specific Wikipedia article on the Nazi Holocaust

Remembering the Roma victims of the Holocaust – discusses how the Romani are often excluded from historical accounts of the Holocaust, and the impact on the people – less dry than the Wikipedia article

Persecution and Politicization: Roma (Gypsies) of Eastern Europe – nice summary of the history associated with the word from Cultural Survival Quarterly magazine

The “G” Word Isn’t for You: How “Gypsy” Erases Romani Women – from the National Organization for Women (NOW) this focuses a little more on how the long-standing stereotypes and racism hurt Romany, especially the women.

[babiskavvadias]

Roma analogica, ottobre 2024 Canon 7s, Jupiter-12 35mm f/2.8, Kentmere 200 @ 400 ISO Leica IIIf, FED Industar-61 52mm f/2.8, Ferrania P30

[downfalldestiny]

Roma ♥️🏛️🌄 !.

[hohehohehohe]

I have been thinking for a long time that Roma is quite an unsociable person although she seems quite friendly (and she is!). Yes, of course if something happens, she will help you or can freely chat with you but it is very difficult for her to become attached to someone. Even when she helped Pavel, she simply gave her new clothes and some food and in the morning she left without a single word. Nothing personal, she just always lived on her own!

So when I imagine her interactions with someone, I can never imagine her in a relationship with someone or close enough. But I am sure that in fact it is possible to get closer to her, you just need a lot of time and common interests (food)

Despite all that i swear you will have the most deep and nice night talks with her, even if she never understands your troubles

And just Roma doodles

[jupiterovprsten]

Italian Statues

[luminis-imago]

Remains - Opposites (Roma 2024)

[wgm-beautiful-world]

Castel Sant'Angelo ROMA

[djuvlipen]

Romani people and activists are currently holding a ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau to commemorate the Romani genocide. 80 YEARS AGO TODAY the Nazis liquidated the 'Gypsy family camp', murdering 4.300 people in a single night.

As stated in the article, almost 90% of Romani people from Bohemia and Moravia (Czech Republic) were killed during the Holocaust. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazis and their allies murdered 500.000 - 800.000 Romani people all across Europe, representing 25-50% of the global Romani prewar population.

[m1male2]

Santa María in Trastevere, Roma

[allthingseurope]

Rome, Italy (by Catalin)

[wandering-cemeteries]

Angel with a rose.

Verano Monumental Cemetery

Rome, Italy

Feb. 2024

[babiskavvadias]

Roma analogica e Roma digitale, ottobre 2024 Piazza Vittorio, Garbatella & San Lollo

Canon 7s, Jupiter-12 35mm f/2.8, Kentmere 200 @ 400 ISO Leica IIIf, FED Industar-61 52mm f/2.8, Ferrania P30 Ricoh GRIII Nikon Z30, Nikkor 24mm f/1.8

[wandering-italy]

The ancient ruins of the Baths of Caracalla.

Rome

Dec. 2019

[nobeerreviews]

Some days in late August at home are like this, the air thin and eager like this, with something in it sad and nostalgic and familiar...

-- William Faulkner

(Roma)

[hohehohehohe]

Male possum rizz

[livesunique]

Palazzo Vilòn, Roma RM, Italy